ITT: Libs have no idea what "anti-capitalist" means.

OP, good luck on your search. I've been looking for the same and would love to know what you find. I've asked around a lil bit and been told Redemption Tattoo in Cambridge, but haven't made it in yet myself.

Vermont at that time of year is going to be beautiful on account of the fall foliage. Camping in October is a little chilly but should be no problem as long as you've got a bag that can handle lows around freezing in the night.

Maine and NH are also going to be lovely in October, and both of those would give you easier access to cities (Boston, Portland) if you want to get some cultural attractions in while you're here.

Seconded. I live quite comfortably here on a salary similar to OP's, but I need to live with two roommates and ditch the car to make it happen. For me, that's no big deal (in fact, I prefer to live with others and had been wanting to ditch the car for a while before moving here). However, I certainly understand that those choices aren't for everyone, and someone who feels they need to live alone and with a car would have a really rough time getting by here on $50k.

Zipcar rates depend on the vehicle. If you get say, a Honda Fit, then you can get a pretty reasonable day rate.

And yes, I'm in Camberville so I have a ton of Zipcars near me and little experience with commuter rail. My comment was predicated on the idea that OP would live near a red/orange line stop, not a commuter rail stop.

If you read my comment, you would see that I... said the same thing?

To be honest, I strongly disagree.

Having a car may be a luxury for the car's owner (at times), but adding more vehicles to Boston traffic slows everyone else's commute. It is pollutant, dangerous (to yourself and pedestrians/cyclists with whom you share roadways), and often extremely inconvenient for the reasons many others have shared above.

For the times that you need a car --- which, as a /r/fuckcars acolyte, I must admit are a reality --- services like ZipCar are pretty affordable and very accessible. There are four different ZipCar pickup/drop-off locations within a 7 minute walk of my building. Sure the marginal cost on a car-share service seems high, but also consider that with these you are not paying for gas, insurance, maintenance, or the up-front cost of the vehicle itself (and, in OP's case, shipping the vehicle cross-country). It's like $50 to take one of those bad boys for a whole day, which imo is a pretty reasonable rate to jog up to NH for a day.

OP, if it weren't obvious from the rest of my comment, I would ditch the car and consider a multi-modal commute. Places near rail stops too expensive? No problem -- ride a bicycle to the rail stop, then take the train into downtown, and reverse the process in the evening. A truly Euro-style commute ;)